School Quality Assurance: developing a scalable model for school self-improvement in Madhya Pradesh

This paper will present a school assessment model developed by Ark in the state of Madhya Pradesh; highlighting some key features of a potential model for improving public school performance and to invite discussion of an... [ view full abstract ]

This paper will present a school assessment model developed by Ark in the state of Madhya Pradesh; highlighting some key features of a potential model for improving public school performance and to invite discussion of an innovative policy evaluation design.
The first section of the paper will present a brief diagnosis of the problem. Weak schools are naturally at the core of this problem, held back by two main challenges: first, that administrators lack the tools to hold schools accountable for the quality of the education they provide; second, that school leaders lack the tools to improve the quality of their schools even when held to account.
The core of the paper will present a response to these challenges developed by Ark with the Government of Madhya Pradesh. It will describe the detail of the school quality assurance (SQA) model, including the inspection process, the school improvement plan and the data tool for administrators. It will also discuss how the model has been designed to be scalable and cost-effective: the government plans a roll-out to 20,000 schools in April-July this year, at a cost of less than 0.5% of the state’s school education budget.
Finally, the paper will present the evaluation developed in partnership with Professor Karthik Muralidharan. The two-year evaluation is based on a random selection of 2,000 schools to be assessed under the SQA model, giving policymakers a unique degree of insight into the efficacy of this policy innovation.